Friday, November 14, 2014

Reading:  Spelling test!
We also got to read the book The Pigeon Wants a Puppy.  My 
kids LOVE this series!

Math:  Math facts test
     +10 facts


Surprise! Double specials today!
     After PE, the kids watched a Berenstain Bears video about thankfulness in guidance.  They wrote a sentence about what they are thankful for.  I even had a couple thankful for Ms. Carter! : )
I have such a sweet bunch, really.  They can be so complimentary! If you ever need to feel good about yourself, but come hang out in our classroom! They brighten my day, everyday.  No matter how I'm feeling about myself or how stressed I am, they always seem to know what to say to me to make me smile.  I get told several times a day, everyday, that I am beautiful, that I have pretty clothes, that I am loved, or that I'm the best teacher in the world.  I don't think they can fully understand how much they have helped me through a difficult transition to first grade, but they truly have helped me to begin to love 1st grade.  They are such wonderful blessings to me this year; each and every one of them.  : )

Reading buddies
     This afternoon we were able to see our reading buddies again.  Speaking of a sweet bunch... my kids cheered for our reading buddies when their 4th grade floats were announced over morning announcements.  They also LOVE to see the 4th grade teacher who is our buddy.  They get so excited if they see her or her class in the hallway! 
     When our buddies came we started a project called... "If you lived with a Morgan student."  The 4th graders helped answer a question with my 1st graders such as:  If you lived with a Morgan student, what food would you eat? The kids then started drawing pictures to go with their answers.  Hopefully we'll finish the drawings this week and I can get my firsties to record themselves reading the answers.  I'll take a picture and record the kids using educreations.com and then make a class book that we can post online!

     This project is based on the following two books:

If you lived with the Cherokee
     When I was in 4th grade I had my students to read through this book, choose 3 topics and summarize the information in paragraphs.  We then worked together to write an introduction and a closing to create a standard 5 paragraph paper.


If you lived with the Hopi
     We're doing this book as a read-aloud in my class and we're learning about the Pueblo and Hopi Indians of the Southwest.  



Thoughts from a 1st grade teacher...
So I'm trying to read some more to figure out how to better organize and teach guided reading and guided math.  I've dug up my teacher education textbooks and one of the first sentences that struck said that the teacher is on a "life-long journey to refine my teaching."  Is that what I'm doing? So we never really "arrive" do we? I just hope that I can continue to try to be better than I was yesterday, last week, or last year.

Other things to make us think...



: )








It's funny how reading something random online will make your check your mental monologue...
:)




Picture of the day:
Myrtle Beach, SC from a helicopter...